BB Gun Suspects arrested and Charged

Matthew Baniak

Joseph McLaughlin

Christian Polk

St. Peters, Mo, May 29, 2015– St. Peters Police Department arrested three male subjects believed to be responsible for causing thousands of dollars in property damage over Memorial Day weekend.

On Friday May 22^nd to the morning of Monday May 25^th, our department took numerous reports for damaged vehicles, primarily broken windows and damage to a handful of homes, all caused by BB pellets. Our department worked various leads received from multiple sources which led to the arrest of the suspects.

The suspects were identified as:

McLaughlin, Joseph

W/M 17 years old

St. Peters resident

Polk, Christian 

B/M 18 years old

St. Peters resident

Baniak, Matthew

W/M 18 years old

O’Fallon resident

St. Peters Detectives contacted the subjects at McLaughlin’s residence on South Gatty Drive in St. Peters. It is believed the subjects intended on targeting a few homes, but it quickly turned into randomly damaging homes and cars in the St. Peters area by using BB guns being fired from the rear of their vehicle. 

All subjects were taken into custody without incident. St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney's Office charged all subjects with 3 felony counts of Property Damage 1^st and 2 misdemeanor counts of Property Damage 2^nd. More property damage charges are expected at a later date. McLaughlin, Polk and Baniak are currently being held on a $75,000 bond and will be transferred to St. Charles County Jail.

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